


Don't even know how you feel

by Neverwaswise



Category: Moana (Disney) - Fandom
Genre: And also bad at developing a healthy relationship, F/M, Maui is bad at feelings, Moana is badass, Mutual Pining, and knowing he is good, maui knows it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 10:22:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11251179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverwaswise/pseuds/Neverwaswise
Summary: After Moana and Maui restore Te Fiti's heart, they continue to adventure, both on land and sea. Maui has been noticing some... feelings and as they set off on another adventure, our favorite emotionally misdirecting Demi god is experiencing some difficulty processing said feelings.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and critiques welcome!

Her fingers were tangled deeply in a net when it happened.

She had just glanced over at her fellow fisherman, Tama, when something wet, cold and monstrously huge rose up out of the sea and swamped her right off the canoe. She screamed just before she went under. 

As the sea lifted her up, she caught her fellow breaching the surface,coughing. She looked toward the canoe. Toward the threat. If there was one thing her sailing students could do, it was tread water.

When her feet hit the deck, her emotions had already switched from the cold fire of battle, to something much warmer.

"Seriously?!" She gasped, dragging her wet hair out of her face, "You can turn into anything and you board my boat as a dolphin?"

Maui, now human, sets his hands on his wide hips and bounces his dry mane over a shoulder.

"I have traveled swiftly across the lagoon to save you time and tedious mortal effort, Curly. You should seriously stop wasting your time. There are no fish here."

Moana reached back to help her villager back onto the canoe as she gave Maui a narrow look. 

"I'll bet there were fish here five minutes ago."

"You sound confident," he replied.

"Because five minutes ago there wasn't a giant dolphin here."

Maui looked up at the sky awkwardly, "I could have been there five minutes ago."

Moana sighed and glanced at Tama apologetically. He shrugged philosophically and began untangling the net.

"If you were here scaring off the fish, who is helping my father with that taro field?"

Maui lowers an arm to thump the deck with his fish hook, and the corner of his mouth turned up playfully, "You doubting me, princess?"

Moana have him a disapproving huff. Because 'princess'. Of all the ridiculous things he called her, that one came out when he was ready to talk like an adult. Or Maui's version of it.

Because she had known he'd finished the field. He may wander worse than Heihei sometimes but, demigod of a pantheon of one, he had some trouble staying tuned into sedate tasks at all times. She had very little room to talk on that one. She was out here fishing in the first place because one more day of land and she'd have done something very unchiefly. 

There were only so many times she could backflip off a fale before patching the roof would no longer fend off the pointed glances her way when a child almost succeeded in mimicking her. 

And now here was Maui distracting her from a fishing trip she wasn't needed on with a particular look in his eye. One that made it hard to hold back her smile as she rested a fist on a hip and raised a brow at him.

"So why the," she waves vaguely with one hand, "Attack by sea?"

Maui smiled and whipped his hook onto his shoulder with a flourish.

"The majestic Maui, of the wind and sea, hero of men and women, would like to present the honored and formidable Chief Moana Waialiki of Motunui, restorer of the Heart of Te Fiti, with a gift."

Moana could not hold that smile back any longer and she waved goodbye to her control over it like she'd distractedly waved goodbye to her parents just that morning before rushing to the boat.

"A gift," she prompted, daring him to impress her and tamping down on an eagerness that was riding up wildly from deep inside. Moana did not miss the whisper of adventure. Ever.

Maui, knowing her like so few did, laughed and began to embellish the details of a quest. Moana stepped closer to him as he spoke and when he finished, she leaned her forearm against his chest and grinned conspiratorially. 

"I'm in."

He ruffled her hair and shoved her overboard.

"Never doubted it, curly."


	2. Chapter 2

Moana dragged her exhausted body onto the beach. A bone deep weariness riding in her thighs, back, shoulders that had her panting a laugh as they pulled the canoe onto the sand together. 

They had battled a dark storm with winds so fast and sharp, her skin was still numb, and it felt so good. She wanted to dance, and run, and climb to the tallest peak of this island they'd sought refuge on after the clouds had passed. 

She settled for collapsing luxuriously onto the sand and spreading out her limbs with a pleased sigh.

Maui moved to look down at her and his eyes were warm. She closed her eyes.

"I'm cold," she said, patting the sand at her side.

The sun would bake the chill out of her once the winds slowed a bit more. But Maui's skin was like a banked fire and she craved warmth and sleep _right now_.

He rolled his eyes and slumped obediently to lie at her side. She placed a hand on his chest and scooted eagerly closer until she was tucked tight to his side.

"Ah," she sighed as the blessed warmth immediately radiated off his skin and into her.

She was well on her way to sleep when Maui's big hand tapped her forehead.

"Lift your head," he said softly.

When she complied she felt that big arm sweep around behind her until her head was nudged onto his shoulder and his arm curled around her waist.

"I just need a little minute," she mumbled exhaustedly, her eyes closed, "Then we can go... talk with the kakamora."

Maui lifted his head a bit, "Princess, that is an absolutely terrible idea."

Moana opened one eye at his tone. It was the One he used when she wanted to try returning the giant raging sea snake's crystal egg instead of smacking it with a magical hook until it died. The sound he made when she jumped up onto the top of the gate to Lalitai. And probably what he sounded like on that little island when she walked up to Te Fiti to restore her heart.

Like he was offended by the suggestion but also ready to get hit by the inevitable wave when it got to him.

She had come to love that tone during their many adventures. Because it was the sound of his _worry_. Which was not an emotion you felt unless you cared. She knew he worried about her mortality. Her frailty. Not that she really wanted him to be constantly worried for her. But sometimes he was. But that wasn't all he expressed. He trusted her. The things he'd stood back and let her choose to do, of course he trusted her. But that didn't stop his body from going rigid, just like it was now.

She lazily lifted her hand in a soft pat, "It'll be fun." 

His grunt was very noncommittal, but he didn't say anything else and she drifted off to sleep. 

Maui's eyes wandered over the blue sky was he held her to his side. Could feel the soft, steady rise and fall of her chest against his own. And yes, he was tired but he didn't think that was the source of the pain in his chest. 

The quest he had tempted Moana out on was an easy one. He'd been on Motunui for several days before he'd received a call for help from a fan tail bird that the village he'd just finished visiting some weeks before was being harassed by a small vessel of kakamora, hindering their efforts to venture out from their island. 

So a long sailing trip and a short bout of smashing coconuts to pieces and then a long voyage back. Maybe with some exploring thrown in. A fantastic break for Moana, who was obviously feeling the strain of staying in one place. There was only so much even he could do to distract her from the fact she was not actually sailing on an adventure. 

So he was very awesome for providing her with an actual adventure. 

But that was the thing. He didn't feel like he was awesome for being a source of excitement and discovery in her life. Not like he used to, when he'd perform a service for mankind. Or when he'd endlessly tell tales about it after. 

Now it was almost like relief. When he showed up and watched a light come into her whole body. Watched her running out to him. Bouncing on the balls of her feet like the little girl she was when he first met her. Like the woman she was now who was so damn _happy_ he was there. Because he brought her adventure. 

And he felt so grateful to her, for choosing him, choosing to smile for him and give him these huge, full-hearted hugs in front of everyone. 

__For making them smile at him and giving him a place with them. He'd drag her out on a thousand adventures to have that feeling. Even if it hurt when he realized it was time to go. That if he didn't leave soon, they'd remember how he'd almost destroyed the world, how sometimes he ate an inhuman amount of food. How sometimes he held their future chief in that warm welcome hug for far too long._ _

__And she let him. So comfortable with him. So happy because he represented another tie to the ocean that she loved. A way to get back to it._ _

__He closed his eyes and let himself doze.  
Because he knew exactly what the source of the pain in his chest was._ _


	3. Chapter 3

"Quick! Blend in!" Moana hissed as she zipped past him, bare feet silent on the soft sand.

Maui straightened up from crouch over the small doorway and watched her slip up a tree like a greased snake.

And then he rolled his shoulders and looked around calmly.

Because they were on a wide beach with no cover besides some tired looking trees. And the kakamora fortress Moana had just flown out of.

Maui quickly moved beneath the tree Moana had disappeared into.

"How'd the talk go?" He asked.

"Um, pretty good actually. Considering they can't...talk," she answered, fiddling furiously with something in her lap that he could not see. 

"That's awesome, Curly," Maui replied, still eying the doorway, "So why are we about to be murdered by angry coconuts?"

"Murdered? By them?" Moana followed that statement with a dismissive snort.

Maui rolled his eyes just as the kakamora poured out of the fortress. Or, he noticed upon turning at the sound of approach, only one did.

The first thing he noticed was the reassuring lack of war paint. It was a small little monster. Smaller than the other nasty little pirates? He had no idea. It was wearing a tall grass hat.

And apparently carrying a dead possum in its little hands.

He watched it turn and peer around in confusion before heading off to the north side of the fortress, completely ignoring Maui.

When it was safely away, Maui peered up at Moana. She glanced down at him in return and then grimaced.

"It wants me to eat that possum."

Maui blinked before he promptly threw back his head and laughed. Laughed for a while because really. It was beyond funny and round back around to sad. She was glaring down at him now, her face a bit red at the cheeks.

Finally he took a big gulp of air and leaned his forehead against the tree.

"The majestic chief Moana flustered by a marriage proposal from a coconut."

She growled, "I am not flustered!"

"Mmhm," he replied, still grinning, "You know you can just say no. If he has a problem with it, kick his ass. I'll be here to back you up, but we both know I won't need to."

"And if the others have a problem with it?"

"Then they are dick bags and we can kick all of their asses," he answered with a little growl.

Moana rolled her eyes. He felt it physically resonate in the air even if he couldn't see it.

"Maui, we aren't fighting all the kakamora I just had a successfully diplomatic conversation with so you can defend my honor."

He pushed away from the tree spluttering at that, "Your honor!? Curly, what are you thirty? You're far from needing anyone to defend your honor."

"I'm eighteen," she corrected unhelpfully.

"Yeah well listen, princess-"

"Not a princess."

"- you don't need me to tell you that you are in charge of your honor. No one can do anything with or to you that can even touch your honor. All the men you fuck at your village, at the other villages, are just that. People you fuck. Not marks on your honor. Not events that make you any less of a Chief or a damn hero. So I will only be protecting you. Not your honor, because as far as anyone is concerned, that's your business."

There was a brief, sharp silence in which he just breathed harshly and fumed.

"Maui," she finally said softly.

He looked up at her complicated tone, surprise and a hot blush flashing through him to match the one on her own cheeks.

He tried to grab his flare of anger and strangle it. Pull it back to something that could be tucked away carefully.

It was strangely difficult.

He was an arrogant son of sea scum sometimes, but Moana was going to know she was more. She wasn't like anyone else. And she was going to be reminded of that whenever he had the chance.

But maybe he'd blown that interaction out of proportion. It was obviously his breakdown that had wiped the smile from her face.

"I'm not sorry," he said, "But you can forget it."

She slipped out of the tree to land beside him, huffily sweeping her hair out of her face.

"Not a chance, kid," she said.

Then she gave him a little smile. Her hand came up to squeeze his bicep fondly, her face still slightly red.

He looked down at her, feeling her smile do what he couldn't, dragging that anger back down and out of the way. So he could smile just so slightly back.

They both turned their heads when they heard something clatter just out of sight beyond the edge of the fortress.

"Ok, lets go," Moana said rushing to the canoe, planting her feet solidly, a pathetic attempt to hide how wide her strides were. 

He followed after, feeling the warmth her hand left behind on his arm.

He was about to tease her for her hasty retreat when he saw the thing hanging over her shoulder.

"What's with the flowers?"

Because that's what she had, a handful of flowers bundled together with a length of vine.

"Did you accept someone's offer after all?"

She gave a slightly awkward laugh and began to push the canoe off the beach.

"So no," she said, "I didn't accept a marriage proposal from a coconut. Sorry to disappoint you," she huffed as she strained that last bit to shove the canoe out to the water and hop on almost in the same motion. 

He was striding out into the water and moving it further out as she began running her hands expertly over the mast and sails as she spoke.

"The kakamora who have been harassing Kiri's village? The kakamora say it's the other way around, that Kiri has a giant snake they can order around make eat the kakamora. So they gave me some plants that we can drag in the water behind us and lure this snake in. If it exists."

Maui pulled himself onto the canoe, "Oh good, because for a second there I thought we were trusting kakamora."

She laughed as she settled in at the stern with her oar.

"Give me some credit, Maui."

He sat down on the canoe and felt that warm pain rise up in his chest. 

"I give you all the credit, kid. Good work."

She smiled, "Don't call me kid."

They sat in silence for a while. The comfortable silence they had already experienced so often together. He closed his eyes and basked in it. 

This silence, easy and full of affection, full of belonging. He knew for a fact he hadn't felt it quite like this before he met her. Her comfort with herself brought an confidence to their friendship that he craved. Always he wanted to be by her, to talk or not talk, with the sole goal being to exist near her and know that he was completely wanted there. That she was at home with him as she was with the sea.

He opened his eyes slowly at that thought as it rose again to the surface. 

Moana and the sea. Moana and her people. Her two great loves.

He didn't fit into either of those two categories. But Moana was just confident enough to make him feel important to her. Not like they were important. But a little importance in her life was something he had found he treasured. He was a conduit between the two, the one who showed up and helped Moana have both, when they both knew Moana didn't need any help finding the sea.

He could be happy being the tag along.  
It was enough.

"Would you accept a possum from someone else?" 

"What?" Moana asked.

He turned his head to look at her and realized she was looking at him. That he had said something.

Then like a piglet falling off a cliff, he realized what he had said.

"Ah," he said eloquently, "I mean..."

Moana was giving him this look like he had a large splinter in his hand it hurt her to look at.

He'd spilt that fiery cold feeling in his chest all over the deck and she was bravely trying to hold in her pity. 

He'd learned over the years, that retreat was sometimes a viable option. He'd also learned that running from Moana was always a temporary solution, but he was sliding off the side of the canoe as a dolphin before he knew he'd grabbed his hook.


	4. Chapter 4

Moana stood and peered into the water, her hand gripping her oar tightly. She tucked her hair behind an ear and bent down closer to the water, half expecting Maui to spray her in the face and come up laughing. Half hoping, really. 

Because the second before he escaped into the water, he'd looked exactly like a human about to throw up.

She hadn't clearly heard what he'd said that got that blindsided emotion on his face, (something about that damn possum?), but it obviously had been something he regretted. Maybe he'd said something harsh? That idea didn't sit right with her.

Considering the circumstances of their meeting, as well as both of their stubborn natures, they had some pretty volcanic fights under their belts by now. And never had she seen that look on his face. 

After a while of calling down at the water and watching for movement, she sat down and thoughtfully jerked the canoe back on course.

She thought back to his angry words on the beach. About her honor and who she had sex with. She looked down at the deck and felt heat flare on her cheeks. Sure she'd done things with a couple people. Nothing to risk getting pregnant, but she'd quickly found there were plenty of fun things two people could get up to in bed without risking starting a family prematurely. And while the physical aspects of those encounters had been enjoyable, they had not been satisfying. She suspected she would get much more out of sex with a partner she cared deeply about. Someone who she knew saw her true self when they looked at her. Someone she knew in return. 

She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration because she knew exactly who fit that description in her life currently. And it hurt so bad to know it. Knew how pathetic it was.

Maui, demi-god of the wind and sea. And her best friend in the whole damn world.  
She sure knew how to dream up the impossible. 

Pushing that aside sharply, she went back to what could possibly have driven Maui off the boat like that. 

Had she done something? When he'd been so angry on the island, had he been angry about some other unexpressed issue as well? 

She did not know why she felt so strongly that she was on the right track, but it had been so unusual for him to switch from banter to agitation so quickly. 

Something had definitely been bothering him then and less than an hour later something completely different crops up?

Unlikely, considering all they’d really done is sit on a boat in between.

She reached into the water, feeling the currents, but really just wanting the reassurance of the water's presence. 

Maybe he’d come back and explain. More likely he’d fall out of the sky and loudly ignore anything had happened.

She sighed and tied the rudder in place. Moving forward, she began to fish around in the storage compartment for something to eat.

Kiri’s village was a little more than a day away. Hopefully Maui would come back before nightfall. It was always a treat to sail with him. And he’d spoiled her lately, staying in the village for over a month. She’d grown used to always having him close at hand. 

And out here on the sea, she got the opportunity to feel a piece of what she had known would come. Once she’d caught a taste of him always being with her, she’d never want him to leave.

So she sat there, chewing slowly on nuts that should taste sweet but were tasteless in her mouth. Breathing around a big hollow place in her chest.

Because he was immortal. He was Maui. A personality so big, it filled the whole sky. And a body that pulled all eyes to him.

She couldn’t help but wonder about the sexual partners that body had definitely gotten him. About the things he’d said before disappearing right after they’d restored Te Fiti. He’d been stuck on that island for a thousand years and ‘the world missed its favorite Demi god, curly, can’t leave her hanging’.  
Had he found someone out there? Someone who could make him happy?

Someone as vibrant, as alive, as Maui shouldn’t be tied down. He should be out there, with the open sky, exploring and saving humanity. That made him happiest. Imagining him settled in one village made her body flush with want. A terrible want that told her in no uncertain terms that she was a horrible friend. 

Because what kind of a friend finds a person as obviously drawn to the sea as he was, befriends them, and then obsesses over pulling him into her village?

She shouldn't want to change someone she cared about. Especially since she knew he was a wanderer before she'd ever met him.

She’d recognized this contradiction early on in their friendship. It was an ugly thing that sat in her heart and threatened to ruin everything. It's what found her coaxing him to extend his visits with food and parties and competitions. It's what made her encourage friendships between him and the people of her village. 

And then she’d catch herself. 

And with forced exuberance drop hints that he could go any day. Save another island. Fight some sea monster. Bring her back one of those talking clams he’d told her about.

And sometimes he’d coax her out with him on an adventure. Sometimes he would just leave. And those times hurt like a gushing wound.

So, even though it felt like tearing off her own arm, she kept herself in check and loved the time he could give her.

This time may be one of those times she’d held too tightly. She wasn’t sure where she’d made the mistake but that didn’t change it.

He was feeling smothered and needed to get away from her. 

It hurt to consider, but she knew it wasn’t unlikely. There was only so much a human could offer Maui.

She checked the sail and the rudder before flopping on her back on the boat. Watching the blue sky bloom with orange and red to her right, she remembered all the times he'd held her close. 

She rested her cheek against the wood and pulled air into the cold void below her ribs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is fanart for this chapter and I cannot say enough how cool that is!
> 
> http://zabchansketchbook.tumblr.com/post/162062412465/inspired-by-dont-even-know-how-you-feel-by


	5. Chapter 5

Upon hitting the water, Maui had very little recollection of where he went or why. The sea was cool and deep and endless. Exactly what he needed as he swam and did not think. Did not panic.

Now he was floating gently against a current, held in place by the slow undulations of his large shark body. 

And his mind’s eye was held fast in jaws stronger than his own. They held him fast in front of the image of Moana looking at him. Staring at him. So uncomfortable. So mortified by his confession. His mistake. His shame. 

Floating in the sea, Maui felt the tatters of their friendship floating down into the dark. What was wrong with him? Why did he say that? What did it even mean?

Why was he sitting out here alone over it?  
Moana was up there sitting on a boat on his quest and he wasn’t even there with her.

He just needed to shake off whatever this weird feeling was and get back to the boat. And he was totally going to. In a sec.

 

When he approached the canoe, she was kneeling at the stern of the boat, her hand resting gently on her oar. He hovered on the playful night wind and watched the light of the stars catch in her dark hair.   
With his hawk eyes he could see her toes wiggle absently as she shifted her legs beneath her.

And as he studied her from above, as he had done many times before, he realized something. This was Moana. Not some stranger who’d throw him out for not lifting the sky high enough or for making the days too long. This was the beautiful girl he’d left to fight a lava monster alone. Whose people he’d doomed to death over his stupid hook. 

The same girl who’d then stood on Te Fiti’s shore and grinned at him like he had done a damn thing to get them there.

She might need to tell him some hard truths now. But she wouldn’t be cruel about it. Not his Moana.

She startled a bit when he hit the deck with a brown winged flourish. 

By the time he was in his human form she was carefully rising to her feet, smiling.

“I’m baaack,” he sing songed, “I know you missed me but, please, keep the tears in. They clash with my impeccable pecs.”

Moana snorted and replied, “I’ll try my hardest.”

“Then you can stay.”

She laughed, “Not gonna throw me off the boat?”

“Not when you are bracing for it.”

She gave him an unimpressed look, one she’d given him a thousand times and he didn’t say anything for a moment. 

Then she was tucking hair behind one ear and looking down. Then up again.

"You ok?" She asked.

"Absolutely. Refreshed and ready to kick ass. No worries," he bluffed, spinning his hook.

Her shoulders dropped slightly and her smile relaxed, like she was relieved.

“So,” she said, “Are we good?”

He opened and closed his mouth once.   
If he said yes, would they be? Was it that easy? 

Relief was running over his brain like a hungry sow before he even realized he’d opened his arms for a hug.

“Yeah, we’re good,” he said softly.

She nuzzled up against his chest eagerly, her arms reaching as far as they could around him. Maui felt a tension in her shoulders he knew he’d put there. 

Without letting himself think about it much, he moved a hand to her back. A quick flip of his wrist and his hand was beneath her hair, brushing down on her warm back. He felt her sigh, some tension shaking loose like sand from a closed fist. 

His other hand was in her hair now, fingers running through it gently, just the way he’d learned could put her to sleep in minutes.

As if on cue, she released a deep groan into his chest, her hands sweeping appreciatively over his sides.

This was dangerous territory for him. He knew it. He’d been here before. But it always felt so damn good to pretend, just for a minute.

“You’re kinda tense, kid,” he said.

“Ha,” she replied, “My friend didn’t run off to get eaten by a giant snake without me there to save him, so it's all good now.”

“Wa!?” He squawked, still holding her, “Would never happen. I,” he paused for dramatic effect, “am Maui.”

She pulled her head back to look up at him, “What, no titles?”

“My name alone has plenty of wow factor,” he replied, his voice going as quiet and soft as hers.

She rolled her eyes, “Also you literally have your titles tattooed into your skin,” she drew her fingers up his sides and he hopefully hid the hitch in his breath, “So I can probably figure them out on my own.”

Her eyes were dark and slightly closed as he ran both hands through the ends of her hair where they brushed at her waist.  
And realizing how limp and calm she was in his arms, how goddamn gorgeous she looked, suddenly gripped something in him and _pulled_.

He was bowing over to kiss her before he realized it. 

Her brown eyes were starting to open more. Beginning to shake off some of the languor. And he could just imagine that expression she had earlier. Before he’d jumped off the boat. The pain and discomfort.

A flare of panic had him reaching up with the hand in her hair and cupped the back of her head, smoothly turning the kiss into a honi. Moana rose up on her toes to meet him, pressing her forehead, firm and gentle, against his.

They breathed together and it was so damn more important to him that they could still have this. That he hadn’t shattered his ability to share her life so openly. 

He pulled his head back and pulled his hand from the back of her head to ruffle the top of it.

“Alright, those sleepy eyes are entirely my fault. So i’ll take over for a while,” he said, dodging around her to kneel at the rudder. He glanced up at the stars and tugged a rope as he waited for the warmth of her body to fade from his skin. 

But then her hair was sprawling over his lap and the weight of her head resting on his thighs and he had to close his eyes hard. And not think about how softly her hair tickled as it pooled over his skin. How close she was to his penis, which could give him away in the crudest way possible if he didn't focus.

She settled in like he wasn’t even there, lying on her back and tossing her limbs out. 

He chuckled.

“No, please. Help yourself,” he mocked.

“Will do,” she replied, managing to sound both asleep and cheeky at the same time.

He reached out to comb his fingers through her hair some more, earning him one of those delicious, soft moans.

After a moment, she opened her eyes.

“Maui?”

“Hm.”

“Thank you for coming back.”

He hadn’t stopped smiling for a while now but at that it stretched into a grin.  
Realizing the opening she’d given him, she groaned and threw up a hand, “Don’t say it.”  
He tipped his head back and laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

“If you do this, you will be dead to me,” Moana said hanging upside down, her ankle grasped firmly in Maui’s grip.

He leaned down closer to her, to smirk more directly, she supposed.

“I can’t die. I’m immortal,” he said, “You’re stuck with me.”

Then he clicked his tongue and opened his hand.

“Cheehoo,” was his helpful parting statement as she began to fall.

She sank into the blackness without screaming. Because this might be a dumbass plan, but it was ‘the plan’.  
At least technically this wasn’t one of the ‘Moana makes excellent bait’ plans. It was one of the ‘Moana’s all grown up but is still teeny tiny compared to giant wads of fat and muscle, and so can fit down the teeny tiny hole’ plans. Honestly, Moana never liked either kind of plan.

Which he knew. Which is why he’d just picked her up and dropped her in it.

Catching a ledge just within the chimney was a quick matter of reaching out in the dark and hoping there was something, anything, to grab onto. Then she was climbing slowly down into the dark.  
The sounds of Maui dancing with a giant stone snake was strangely muted encased in the dark rock like this. And when she reached a certain depth, she could only feel slight tremors pass through the stone. Then the light from below lit her way and she made quick work of the rest of the chimney.

Dropping softly into the room, she pulled her oar from her back and scanned the room. The ceiling was low, the space filled with hanging sheets of red cloth. Strings of shells and dried plants clattered in the slight breeze from the chimney.

It would have been a terrifying and confusing space if she hadn’t been here just three days ago. Now all the kakamora should be out chasing Moana, who was supposedly running back to Kiri’s village to warn them.

There should only be one person…

Ah. Right on time.

Kiri swept back a tapa sheet and lurched back, startled.

“What the hell? How did you get in here,” he snarled. 

Moana was down low, her oar ready in one hand, “I’d ask you the same but we both know I’ve figured it out.”

“I’m glad you came back to try and make me feel guilty because now I can kill you.”

“Your people trusted you!” She shouted.

“That’s because they are stupid.”

“You are their chief! You are supposed to protect them!”

“No! I was their slave. My entire life locked away because none of them were strong enough to take care of themselves!”

Moana gritted her teeth, “They can take care of themselves, and they are plenty strong,” she shifted her feet forward, never taking her eyes off him, “A chief pulls a village together, helps them take care of each other. So they aren’t fighting alone. You are either too stupid to see that, or you just don’t care.”

He rolled his shoulders and lifted the blue spear in front of him, “The later, kid.”  
Moana growled as she lunged at him.

Her years of adventuring made short work of him. With a crack of the flat of the oar to the back of his head, he was down.

Boiling with rage and contempt, Moana bent down and jerked the blue spear from his grasp. 

She broke it over her knee before carrying the pieces out of the kakamora fortress.

Maui was waiting in the shade of a familiar tree. He saw her and waved casually.

Angry and hurting for the people Kiri had betrayed, Moana stalked across the sand to the cockily grinning demi god.

“Nice job, princ-"

“Dead to me,” she snapped and she swept past him toward the canoe.

“Ack, really?” He said, hurrying after her, “But it was a great plan. I distracted the snake while you got the spear. Remember that you weren’t the distraction?”

She stopped before the canoe and turned to glare at him.

He pursed his lips for a moment, trying to force a frown. Then his grin burst back out.

“You are so cute covered in soot, kid,” he said, reaching up to swipe his thumb across her nose.

Startled out of her rage by the sudden touch, she jerked back and blinked at his hand.

“You ok?” He asked.

She looked up at him and took a shaky breath.

“Yeah, of course. I’m awesome,” she said.

“Well at least there was some truth in there," he said, letting his hand fall to his side, “Are we good?”

She swept a filthy hand through her filthy hair and grimaced, “Yeah. I suppose.”

He scoffed, “Ah. Such great bonding. So many positive vibes. I feel reassured.”

She rolled her eyes, “I’m still mad at you for tossing me down a hole like a chicken bone.”

He snorted, “Nothing so uncool as that.”

As moving as his apology probably was in his head, Moana’s skin was crawling with how much ash was all over her. Ash from a kakamora chimney. She could have bits of anything all over her. It was...distracting.

Maui, completely ignored now, watched her brush at her arms for an unamused moment before his smile returned.

“Here, let me help you with that, curly,” he suddenly said.

She gave a startled shriek as he tossed her out into the water.

But when her head broke the surface, she was clean and laughing. And the worries of that other village were far away for the moment. 

Maui strode through the waves toward her and, before she could get away, dunked her again. 

But when he pulled her up again, she had an octopus in her hands, courtesy of the sea. Maui squawked as it latched onto his face. 

Moana fell back into the water laughing so hard she choked on the water and came up coughing.

It took Maui a moment to detach the cephalopod and then he was frowning over at her as she laughed helplessly in the waves.

“You are dead to me,” he said.

“Yeah, not immortal,” she said, gasping for breath and beginning to swim back to shore.

She didn’t see the stricken look on Maui’s face as he stared after her.

 

Moana’s feet hit the beach of Motunui with a reassuring thud. Tugging the canoe up behind her, she glanced up as Maui flew overhead. His victorious hawk’s cry sounding as her family and village rushed out to welcome her home.

She caught her parents up in a long embrace was the others cheered, waiting their turn.

They all became distracted when Maui hit the beach in human form, spinning his hook over his shoulders.

“The dream team, Maui and Moana, have returned. Victorious, of course.” 

“Of course!” Some cheered as the others judged smiled and laughed. 

Over her mother’s shoulder, Moana watched Maui accept exuberant hugs and pats from the villagers, children crawling up his legs to get to him. Maui accepted all of this with equal delight, his entire body glowing with the attention.

Tui pulled out of the hug with his daughter and walked over to sweep Maui into one.

Sina turned to look at them, a smile on her face, “So everything went ok?”

Moana glanced at her mother and nodded, “It was not a happy situation. It had no happy ending. But the people know the truth and will have to work it out from there.”

Sina gripped her shoulder, “You did good.”

“Thanks, mom,” Moana said with a smile.

Maui was suddenly at Moana’s side, snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her away from her mother to swing her around.

“Feast time! I am so ready!” He cheered.

Moana let him carry her up the beach for a minute, until he’d calmed enough to notice her tugging at his hair. Then, at her order, he set her down.

“Sorry, curly. It's just so good to be back.”

Moana looked away from him at the pinch of pain that statement always brought her. It would be easy to believe he loved this village. In particular.

The way she did. It would be easy to believe this village felt like home to him.  
But she wouldn’t let herself misunderstand. She _would_ be a good friend.

“Moana?” Maui asked, seeing her head turned away.

She looked back at him innocently, all pain pulled off her expression, “Yeah?”

His arm was back around her, pulling her closer to him by her shoulders, “You ok?”

“I’m starving actually,” she said with an affected groan.

Maui smiled, “That I think we can fix.”

And he didn’t lift his arm and there was no way in hell she was going to tell him to.

 

The feast went on well into the night. 

Moana danced and sang and ate. She settled into the warmth of having her people all around her and still felt something scratching at the back of her happiness. She knew what it was every time she watched her parents settle against each other when they sat. Every time the dancers pulled each other off the dance floor and into the trees. 

Every time she watched Maui wink at someone or jump to his feet to tell an even more exaggerated version of their latest adventure. Every time he’d turn to her and make her laugh.

When the feeling was no longer scratching at the back anymore, but was enthusiastically at the forefront of her emotions, she rose from her place and walked away from the gathering.

Moving between the fale, she made her way to the beach. When her feet were submerged in the water, she stopped. 

And tried her hardest to find calm.

Because she didn’t know why now it was so much harder to hold all of this back. Like it had been building up over time, a strain she carried and carried, until, for no reason at all, it was breaking her. 

“Moana.”

She turned her head slightly at her father's voice.

“What’s wrong,” he asked gently.

“Nothing. I’m just being stupid,” she answered, surprised by how tired her voice sounded.

Her father was silent as he stepped into the water with her.

“Am I a bad person for wanting him to stay?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

He took a long breath and let it out before answering.

“Was I a bad person for wanting you to stay?”

She turned her head from the sea to look at him.

“I was holding onto you out of fear, Moana. But that fear existed because I loved you with all my heart. It was the same fear than drove you to Te Fiti. Fear of losing us.”

She looked down at the water around her feet, remembering the frantic terror scrabbling around inside her as she tried to wrangle a traumatized demi god into helping her. Trying to not scream at him that her people could be dying right now. Her family could have been swallowed up the day she left, or the day after, and she had no way to know.

“But Moana, you have never let your fear drown out the call of your heart. You’ve always felt fear, I know. But it's never turned you aside.”

She was looking at him now.

“What if he doesn’t-” she cut off.

Her father nodded, “In that way, Moana, perhaps not. That is up to him. But he will always love you. That is something I think you and I already know.”

Moana stared at her father and froze.  
Because he was right. She did know that. Maui would care about her no matter what she did. Because he had spent thousands of years loving humanity when it never loved him back. Had sacrificed everything for them in the fight with Te Ka right before her eyes. He was not going the hate her for loving him too much, or in the wrong way. 

And she knew that if she ever messed up, if she ever betrayed him, he might fly away. But he would never stop loving her.  
For a long, painfully clear moment, she knew that asking this of him was not a betrayal. She could go and confess what she wanted to him and even if he said no, it would always be a tender precious thing to him that she could be that vulnerable. That she could trust him.

“I have to go,” she said.

Then she turned and was racing up the beach, her father watching the sea behind her.

 

She found him asleep by the fire, flat on his back, limbs spread out. Several other people were also sleeping here, though not taking up so much room. Or snoring quite as loudly.

She sank to her knees at his side and took a few careful, calming breaths before reaching out for his chest and shaking him.

“Maui,” she hissed.

He snored on.

“Maui!” She hissed again, shoving harder.  
One dark eye cracked open and he was shifting awake.

“Moana? What?”

“I need to talk to you,” she whispered.

He was lifting his head now, “What’s wrong?”

She patted his chest and smiled a bit to quell the anxiety rising in his expression.  
“Nothing. Everyone is fine. I just need to talk to you.”

He sat up slowly, studying her face, “Ok…”

And then they were both rising together and moving out of the village to the mountain.

Moana walked without a place in mind, just moved until it felt right. Well, not right because her heart was beating hard and several parts of her brain were screaming that this could go horribly wrong. That she was wrong.

But she turned and looked up at Maui anyway.

Who was looked decidedly anxious now.  
“What is it?” He asked. 

She felt a pang of guilt. He didn’t have his hook with him, but he looked about ten seconds away from turning into a hawk anyway.

“Nothing's wrong. It's about me. I just have something I want to tell you. To ask you.”

Maui was watching her intently, nodding gamely, “Ok, shoot.”

She had literally watched him wrangle in his flight instinct. He was standing there, ready to be there for whatever she needed from him. His expression scooped out her insides and shoved them back in. She realized she was feeling all of these things, but her face was calm, her body was still. 

She reached up. Grabbing hold of his ear. Pulling him down gently.

He followed her pull obediently, expressions flicking past his eyes rapidly, obviously confused.

Until she rose up on her toes and pressed her lips firmly to his.

His lips were warm and soft, his body stiff, communicating shock like a thunderclap through the jungle.

She held him there for a long moment. Feeling it. Memorizing it. In case she never got another chance.

Then she pulled back, belatedly resolving to step away and explain. But his hand was on her back, holding her in place so she could only pull back enough to look into his eyes as they remained closed for a moment and then opened suddenly.

“Moana, what- I-” he tried.

“I love you,” she said, “I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Here, on Motunui. Out on the ocean adventuring. And I want to have sex with you. I want to hold you at night and make you feel better than you've ever had before.”

His mouth was hanging open now, his body petrified beneath her hands. And for some reason she was smiling.

“I love you,” she said again, “Can I kiss you again?”

His nod was tiny. She brushed her nose against his.

“I need to hear a yes first. Just to the kiss. I can wait on the rest.”

He seemed to snap back into his head at that, his arms shifting around her slightly, his throat clearing.

“Moana, please kiss me again or I will die right here.”

She laughed as she threw her arms around his neck.

And she leaned up on her toes. Pressed her lips to his again, this time flicking her tongue out to tease the line between his lips, asking them to open to her.

And he melted into her with a deep groan that parted his lips. She did not hesitate to sweep into that warm, sweet mouth. To taste him. It pulled a groan of her own from her chest. Because her body was already on fire like never before. She felt like hot sand was pouring into her from his pliant, willing mouth and it was searing her from the inside.

And as she took what she wanted from his willing mouth, his hands were sliding up her back and into her hair, not pulling her in or hold her still. Just touching. Shifted so softly against her scalp before sweeping down her back again.

She ripped her mouth from his with a gasp and lifted herself up his chest with the arms around his neck. His hands were on her butt to help lift her as she wrapped her legs around his waist and mouthed at his jaw.

“What,” she panted, “what do you want. What do you like.” 

Maui swallowed hard and gasped as her breath swept over the wetness she’d left on his jaw.

“This is good,” he managed, “This.”

She was kissing his neck now, hot open mouthed kisses with some teeth as she devoured the salty delicious taste of him.  
She was losing her mind with how good he tasted.

“So good,” she heard herself saying, “So good for me, Maui.”

He made a noise like someone had wounded him as he sank to his knees. She was running her hands through his hair as she released her legs’ hold around his waist. Her knees touched the sand beneath them and her lips were on his again.

“Lay back for me. Lay down. I have you,” she said between kisses.

And he did. Without question he was on his back and pulling her down on top of him, never breaking the contact of their lips. 

She pulled her hands from his hair and swept them down his sides, soaking in the heat of him, the rumbling of his eager sounds rising from his chest.

Then she slid a hand down between her legs, right above his skirt, right above where his penis was hard and proud between his legs. She pressed her hand there and pulled back from their kiss.

“Is this ok? Can I touch you,” she asked.

He opened his eyes with a visible effort, his chest rising and falling rapidly beneath her and he nodded.

“Please say yes or no, sweetheart,” she requested.

He took another breath and reached up, ran a finger over her cheek.

“Yes.”

She grinned and sat up to make quick work on the tie of his skirt, leaving it splayed beneath him. Then she was looking down at his penis and smiling.

“So good,” she purred.

He shivered beneath her and ran his hands up her thighs, watching her with dark half lidded eyes that made her turn her head slightly to the side and give him a coy look.

Those eyes watched her bring her hand to her mouth. Watched her spit into her palm. 

Then her hand was grasping him and squeezing. 

His groan was loud enough to wake the village. She spat in the other hand and got them both firmly around him. 

The broken little “Ah,” he made as she slid her hands down his shaft nearly brought her over the edge. 

She gritted her teeth to regain control and gasped with him as she slid one palm over the head of his shaft, catching the precum there and adding it to slick his length.

“You feeling good for me, sweetheart?” She asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, closing his eyes, “Feeling good. God, Moana.”

His hips bucked beneath her and she felt his balls drawing up towards his body. Surprise and a flush of pride ran through her to see him undone so fast like this. 

She slid sideways off his body, keeping one hand running up and down his penis. She couldn’t put as much attention into it with one hand, but she needed to kiss him, needed to be _closer_. 

And she suspected he wouldn’t need much finesse at this point.

She reclaimed his lips, her movements as hungry and artless as his own as his hands slid up her sides.

“Come for me, sweetheart. You can do it. So good. I love you.”

At that last, he groaned, his back arching off the sand as hot wetness spilled over her hand.

She smiled into his mouth as she worked him through it, until he started to turn his hips away. Then she released his quickly softening cock to lay on his chest and feel his heaving gasps.

After a few long moments, he shifted.  
“Moana?”

She lifted her head to see him grinning down at her.

“Get up here and kiss me,” he said. 

She laughed and complied eagerly.  
His fingers snaked up her skirt and she moaned appreciatively as they pressed between her legs. 

His fingers were skilled as they explored between her folds and his body was soft and pliant from his orgasm and exactly what she liked as he kissed her softly.  
He touched her long and slow, his other hand removing her top. Then leisurely rolling each nipple between his fingers until they were hard and driving her crazy in the night air. 

And like lava slowly spilling over, she came long and hot around his fingers, breaking their kiss to press her face under his chin and silently feel her mind sink out of her body.

When she began to hear sounds again, she opened her eyes and pulled back her face from the warm, delicious smelling curve of his neck.

He turned his head and smiled at her.  
“You ok?” He asked.

She nodded.

“I’m gonna need a yes or no, kid,” he said.

She scoffed and bent closer to brush her lips against his, “Yes, I am so good. That was…” 

“Mm,” he agreed, pulling her closer.  
She reveled in the peaceful warmth of him for a moment. And then swept a hand across his chest to get his attention.

“I love you.” She said.

He smiled and closed his eyes. She felt the warmth of his kiss against her forehead and his murmured, “Right back at you, kid.”

Moana put her head on his chest and snuggled shamelessly as the sounds of the village and the distantly whispering waves wrapped around the sound of his sleepy breathing. 

And her chest felt so full, she had no room for wondering about tomorrow.  
Because she trusted him to give her many tomorrows together, whether like this or like before. And, she hoped, he trusted her to love him.

 

Maui opened his eyes to a sky nearly turning to dawn. And it only took him a moment to notice he was naked. That the warm bundle of softly snufling sleeping girl, was Moana.

Then he remembered all she’d said to him. The way she’d looked at him. The pride and admiration on her face as she’d watched him come undone. The way she’d called him _good_.  
And with her confidence she’d shifted his entire world. 

He lay in the lifting dark, and wondered at a terrain of emotions inside him he had known just a few hours before. That had been familiar for thousands of years.  
Or at least thousands of years until a much younger Moana crashed on his island and began doing whatever she wanted to his heart. 

It hadn’t stopped, either.

He was amused by his own surprise at where he was now. Of course Moana would befriend a broken mistake like him. Of course she would bring him into her home, give him a family like he had never had before. Take him on adventures that, with her, where more exciting and freeing than any before them. 

And then of course she would walk him out here and give him what he didn’t even know he had been looking for.  
“I love you,” she said, like a challenge and a promise.

A challenge he had every intention of meeting with everything he had.  
The sun came up slowly and he woke Moana with soft strokes of his fingers through her hair.

And when her brown eyes opened, she smiled at him with eyes full of trust and love so that his chest filled up with a smile that spilled onto his face.

Home. Moana. This glorious, magnificent girl, had given him a home.

He pressed their foreheads together and they breathed together as the sounds of the waking village rose nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this has been so fun for me to write. I hope you enjoyed reading.
> 
> Of course crtitiques are welcome and comments are craved :)
> 
> Here's my tumblr if you wanna geek out about whatever:
> 
> http://neverwaswise.tumblr.com/


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